Mark

The second of the Gospel accounts
is also the shortest. This is a Gospel of action which places a heavy
demand upon its readers to accept Jesus as the Son of God (1:1,11; 3:11;
5:7; 9:7; 13:32; 14:36, 61-62).

The
beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; Mark 1:1

Theme and Purpose

Mark writes about “Christ
the servant.” The concepts of service and sacrifice flow throughout
this Gospel. He writes during his stay in Rome, to a Gentile audience.
Mark focuses on presenting a Christ who gave Himself for mankind in an
effort to encourage the new Christians in a time of persecutions. His
purposes can be summed up as follows:.

To emphasize Jesus as a servant

To demonstrate in an active
way how to suffer during persecution--as Jesus did!

To demonstrate how to be
a disciple.

To fight the emergence of
heretical, theological doctrines

For
even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

Authorship and Date

From the earliest of traditions,
John Mark has been held to be the author of this Gospel. This book, like
all of the Gospels, does not name its author. The validity of the tradition
is strengthened by both internal evidence and the argument that a relatively
minor player such as Mark would not have been given credit for the work
if he had not written it. Luke’s development of Mark in the book
of Acts may have been the result of Luke either using or knowing of Mark’s
Gospel.

Mark’s history (see below)
clearly shows the life of Mark as being closely related to the Apostles.
Tradition holds that Mark’s Gospel is Peter’s recollections
of Christ. Part of the uniqueness of this Gospel is the shadow of Peter
which surrounds it. Mark may have had as many as twenty years to spend
with Peter, so he could have gleaned much knowledge during this time used
in composing the Gospel.

The issue of dating is partially
dependent upon one’s resolution of the synoptic problem. –
but not totally. The need for a Jewish Gospel could have compelled Matthew
to write fully apart from Mark or any other Gospel. As we have previously
discussed, each of the Gospels is written to a different audience and
for a different purpose. Mark was considered to be an abstract of Matthew
from Augustine (4th Century) until the early part of the nineteenth
century. At that time, the synoptic question arose afresh in scholarly
circles, resulting in a re-visitation of the traditions of the past.

Even though the parallels of
"Mark" in Matthew and Luke are striking, it is entirely possible that
they are using the same source as Mark. And, why would an eyewitness,
Matthew, need to rely upon some other written account so heavily, especially
one by a probable non-witness? For example, the banquet of Matt 9:9-13
and Mark 2:13-17 was held in Matthew’s own house! He did not need
Mark’s written account to record this story. All of this may suggest
that Matthew is the first Gospel, since the first church was Jewish, the
audience of Matthews Gospel.

The parallels
are more striking than might first be imagined. Matthew includes nearly
all of the Markian materials. Luke includes about half of Mark’s
materials. Neither of the other two synoptic writers vary from the
sequence of events found in Mark. Further, Matthew and Luke frequently
repeat exact wording from this short Gospel.

At the same time, if there
is no literary dependence by Mark on the other two Gospels, there is no
reason to date one based upon a date of the other. Clearly, Mark’s
account is written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple
(Chp 13). This makes the date no later than the mid-60s. Tradition holds
to an earlier date, and if one accepts Mark as being the first Gospel,
it could date to the early 50s.

One argument
for the priority of Mark is its short, direct approach. The Greek
language which is used is “rough,” unpolished. Many feel
Matthew and Luke felt compelled, in part, to write a “smoother”
Gospel. Or so goes modern scholarship.

Who is Mark?

John is the Hebrew name and
Mark, or Marcus, is his Latin name. On three New Testament occasions,
Mark is mentioned by both names (Acts 12:12, 25; 15:37). He is also mentioned
as John (Acts 13:5, 13), while elsewhere he is called Mark (Acts 15:39;
Col 4:10; Philemon 24; 2 Tim 4:11; 1 Pet 5:13).

The personal
touch of Mark is seen by many in the incident in Mark 14:51, 52. There,
the young man with Jesus is frightened by the arrest of Christ and
flees into the night, naked, leaving his robe behind. Tradition and
many scholars think this is Mark writing about himself.

On a personal examination of
Mark, one finds his presence in the New Testament as meeting the condition
of apostolic authorship. Mark himself is not an Apostle, but his ties
to the pillars of the church strongly support his ability to prepare the
Gospel. He was a Jewish Christian whose mother, Mary, was apparently a
rich widow. She opened her home in Jerusalem for meetings of the early
church (Acts 12:12). There is some tradition which holds this was the
home where the Last Supper was held.

John Mark was Barnabas’
cousin (Col. 4:10). Barnabas was instrumental in having Mark added to
the missionary party for Paul and Barnabas’ trip to Jerusalem for
the famine relief (Acts 12:25). He then accompanied Barnabas and Paul
on the first missionary journey. However, for unknown reasons, he turned
back to Jerusalem when the party went inland to Asia at Perga in Pamphylia
(Acts 13:5,13).

Barnabas was desirous of taking
Mark along on the second missionary journey, but Paul refused to do so
because of the earlier defection. As a result, Barnabas and Paul broke
up. Paul went with Silas, while Barnabas took Mark to Cyprus (Acts 15:36-41).
Paul and Mark later reconciled for Mark was with Paul during his imprisonment
in Rome, apparently serving as his delegate in Asia Minor (Philemon 24;
Col. 4:10). Paul also instructed Timothy to send Mark to Rome to be with
him during his (Paul’s) final imprisonment (2 Tim. 4:11).

Mark was with Peter in Rome
at the time of the writing of 1 Peter. Peter regarded John Mark as his
spiritual son (1 Peter 5:13).

Uniqueness of the Gospel

Mark spent most of his Christian
life with the Apostles, either on missionary journeys or in Rome or Asia
Minor. Almost certainly this Gospel is being written to the Christians
in Rome to encourage them. Rome was much like modern day America. How
frequently do we as Christians become discouraged just reading the newspaper
or watching television? Mark’s audience faced a similarly decadent
society.

As a result, Mark presents
a Jesus who was persecuted and suffered, all without denying the Will
of God. Jesus is the Worker, the Servant of the Lord, who focuses on the
task at hand and carries on without complaint and without wavering from
the path being traveled. Christ is the faithful Servant going about His
business. This is reflected in the key verses for this book.

34
And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also,
he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whosoever will save
his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my
sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. 36 For what
shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose
his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mark 8:34-37

Indeed, what is more important
than man’s soul?

Mark’s Gospel is a Gospel
of action. The key Greek word, eutheos, is introduced early in the Gospel
and occurs more than 40 times. The word is generally translated straightway,
immediately, or forthwith. The word is found only once in Luke and but
seven times in Matthew. Jesus is always in action or causing action in
this book. Christ is recording as presenting some 38 parables in Scripture,
but only eight of these are found in Mark. On the other hand, Mark records
over half of the miracles performed by Christ. This is the highest proportion
of any of the Gospels.

Peter’s shadow is present
in the Gospel. If one compares Peter’s outline of Christ’s
life as found in Acts 10:36-43, one has the outline of Mark’s Gospel.
Further evidence of this reliance on Peter is found elsewhere in the Gospel.
There is a vividness of detail throughout the Gospel which suggests Mark
had access to the reminiscences of a close eyewitness such as Peter (1:16-20,29-31,35-38;
5:21-24,35-43; 6:39,53-54; 9:14-15; 10:32,46; 14:32-42). Along with the
sermon mentioned above, there is a strong use of Peter&s words and deeds
in this account (8:29,32-33; 9:5-6; 14:29-31,66-72). Further, there is
Mark’s inclusion of the unique words "and Peter" in 16:7. This leaves
the impression of the personal imprint this action had on Peter, a remembrance
Peter would be happy to repeat.

But
go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you
into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. Mark 16:7

Lastly, Mark’s
Gospel is an argument for the necessity of the Cross. There is a dominate
movement of Jesus toward the cross. Chapter 8 marks the turning point
of the Gospel. From that point on, Jesus and his disciples were "on
the way" (9:33; 10:32) to the Cross and the Resurrection. The journey
started in Caesarea Philippi in the north through Galilee to Jerusalem
in the south. The rest of the narrative (36%) is devoted to events
of the Passion Week (11:1--16:8). Mark’s Gospel is rightly called
a Passion story with an introduction. But what an introduction it
is, for only if Jesus is the Christ, as Mark alleges in his opening
paragraph, could the events of the Cross be beneficial.

Special Consideration

There is a great deal of controversy
over the proper ending of Mark’s Gospel. This is truly one of those
areas which properly belong to an Introduction Course rather than a survey.
A review of the ancient manuscripts shows there are, at least, three different
endings to the Gospel. The most abrupt ending are those manuscripts which
stop at 16:8. Next is the familiar ending of the King James which has
verses from Mark 16:9-16:20. In between, there is a short ending which
adds a couple of verses after 16:8.

This is
a transmission problem of the manuscripts. The concern is that the
oldest of the manuscripts, those dating before the time of Jerome
in the 4th century are the ones which end at 16:8. Jerome
notes that few manuscripts which he has seen have the “longer”
ending -- but it did exist! However, all of the essential elements
found in 16:9-16:20 are found in other portions of Scripture. To
the extent they are not, one must be careful not to create a doctrine
from this potentially suspect Scripture.

I phrase the above in
this fashion as a demonstration of the efforts of some to justify
their positions. Review these verses carefully. From 9-11, there
is an outline of the early events of Resurrection Sunday. Verses
12 and 13 reminds us of the story found in Luke about the road to
Emmaus (Luke 24:13ff). The next couple of verses are Mark’s
version of the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20. Notice this
is, however, where the differences start. Verse 16 speaks of baptizing
in the name of Jesus. This has led, at least, one denomination to
insist that one is not properly baptized unless it is solely in
the name of Jesus Christ – no Father and Holy Spirit for them!

Verses 17 and 18 give the
“signs” of those who follows. One sign is new tongues.
This verse is a cornerstone of the charismatic movement’s insistence
on the necessity of tongues. But another of these signs is the handling
of poisonous snakes. While Paul is bitten without adverse consequences
by a poisonous snake (Act 28:35), this is the only place in the New
Testament even close to this “sign.” Yet, there exists
a small group of “snake handlers” in the Christian community
who use poisonous snakes as part of the worship service. And, as one
might expect, they frequently are bitten and die. Also, note that
another sign is the drinking without effect of poisons! There is no
example of this happening in the New Testament.

Interestingly enough, although
Mark’s Gospel is the apology for the Cross, he only records one
of Jesus’ seven statements from the Cross – and it is the
same one as Matthew!

Mark does, along with Matthew
record the tearing of the Temple veil (Mark 15:38; Matt 27:51). With the
death of Christ, the way is opened for men to find God.

Outline

IThe
Preparation of the Servant for Service (1:1-13)

IIThe
Preaching and Manifestation of the Servant (1:14-3:6)

Ministry in Galilee 1:14ff

First Disciples 1:16-20

Casting out demons and healings
1:21-2:22

Lord of the Sabbath 2:23-3:6

IIIThe
Persecution and Opposition to the Servant (3:7-8:13)

More healings 3:6-12

The Apostles chosen 3:13-21

Teachings and Parables 3:22-4:34

Miracles 4:35-5:43

In Nazareth 6:1-6:56

God’s commandments
versus those of men 7:1-8:13

IVThe
Preaching and Preparation of the Disciples (8:14-10:52)

Peter’s Confession
of Christ 8:22-33

Cost of Discipleship, Transfiguration
and healings 8:34-10:52

VThe
Passion of the Servant in Jerusalem (11:1-15:47)

Palm Sunday 11:1-14

Action and Prayer 11:15-26

Challenge to Authority 11:27-44

Olivet Discourse 13:1-37

Preparation and Passover
14:1-31

Betrayal and Crucifixion
14:32-15:41

Burial 15:42-47

VIThe
Prosperity of the Servant in Resurrection (16:1-20).

For
even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

Who is Barabbas?

7
And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that
had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the
insurrection. 8 And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him
to do as he had ever done unto them. 9 But Pilate answered them,
saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews? 10
For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. 11
But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release
Barabbas unto them. 12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them,
What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King
of the Jews? 13 And they cried out again, Crucify him. 14 Then Pilate
said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out
the more exceedingly, Crucify him. 15 And so Pilate, willing to
content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus,
when he had scourged him, to be crucified. Mark 15:7-15

Would you
give your life for a Barabbas?

How important is the
Resurrection to you?

What contemporary audience
would find Mark appealing? Why?

Are you a servant of
the Lord?

How do you show that
you are?

If all of Mark’s
material is found in Matthew and Luke, why is this Gospel included
in the Bible?

Notice the progression in the
Gospels. Matthew closes with the Resurrection. Mark closes with the Ascension.

So
then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into
heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.Mark 16:19